Continuation Part 2 - Discussion of the Amanda Knox case

[HumanityBlues]

You had some good arguments in those exchanges, HB; you should go back and look.

Love your new signature, by the way. LOL

Thanks! A lot of people seem to like this signature.....or so I've been told like 5000 times!

 

[RoseMontague]

Translation of Conti-Vecchiotti report begun:

http://knoxdnareport.wordpress.com/

This is fantastic. Thank you.

 

[katy_did]

katy_did,

What makes you think that it will have an impact on the mixed DNA, the issues surrounding collection technique?

Halides: yes, the collection technique is one thing: I'm sure the experts would have issues with the way the samples were taken, the lack of protective clothing (IIRC this was the video of the woman with the long, dark, unrestrained hair!), the failure to properly contain the crime scene, and so on. But there are also more specific issues which I think apply just as much to the 'mixed DNA' samples as to the bra clasp evidence. One passage that comes to mind is the following, about the possibility of contamination from dust in the environment (p. 137 of the report):

The risk of incorrectly interpreting such environmental contamination from dust could have been minimized only by having the judgment to establish extremely stringent control procedures, including therein the analysis of extracts from sterile cotton swabs soaked in sterile buffer moved across environmental surfaces in order to obtain samples of dust (Toothman MH. et al., 2008). [...]

In order to put forward an interpretative hypothesis, it would have been necessary, in our opinion, to proceed to multiple amplifications of Exhibit 165B whose alleles should have been compared with the alleles obtained from multiple amplifications of extracts of multiple samples of ambient dust.

Only alleles found on Exhibit 165B, and not on the ambient dust, could have been considered of possible circumstantial importance, and this independent of the height and area of the peaks relative to them. This not having been done, the allelic profiles from Exhibit 165B are not, in our opinion, to be considered of evidential value.

In other words, control samples should have been taken from the area in which the bra clasp was found to rule out environmental contamination. Similarly, in the case of the 'mixed DNA' findings, control samples should have been taken in the bathroom to determine whether Amanda's DNA could be found on other surfaces (almost certainly) or only in the areas where Meredith's blood was found. Since this was never done, the mixed DNA evidence has little value. If anything, the argument is even stronger here, since common sense would dictate Amanda's DNA would be found in the bathroom she used every day.

I can't see how the court can accept the experts' many criticisms and recommendations about the knife/bra clasp on the one hand, while on the other giving any of the DNA evidence against Amanda and Raffaele any value. This includes the luminol traces too. For example, they're very critical of Stefanoni for making assertions about the nature of a trace (e.g. that it is blood, or skin cells) with no scientific evidence to back it up - and this is without any tests having been carried out to determine the nature of the sample! So in the case of the luminol traces, where there's actual evidence they weren't blood in the form of the TMB tests, I imagine they would be even more critical. This ties in with the implied criticism of Stefanoni for favouring a 'guilty' interpretation of the evidence:

The widespread public opinion exists that "if the DNA evidence matches the suspect, well then he must be guilty of the crime", and this opinion unfortunately extends to some scientists, judges and lawyers [mentioning no names]. In fact the perception exists that the failure to convict implies a failure of science: this is extremely dangerous and it is therefore important to defend the idea that whether or not a suspect is convicted is an irrelevant question for the scientist, whose responsibility must only be to correctly explain the evidence in the context of the specific case in question (p. 87).

In addition, control samples were again not taken from the areas in which the luminol traces were found, so there's every possibility Amanda's DNA wasn't limited only to the luminol marks, while the experts note repeatedly (in the context of the bra clasp having been found on the floor) that while a great deal of evidence might be found on the floor, it's also a major source of contamination. So basically, I think that if the court accepts the arguments from the independent experts on the bra clasp and the knife, none of the DNA evidence against Amanda and Raffaele can be held valid. The same criticisms apply to all of it.

By the way, as I was reading the report I kept coming across bits I wanted to post as I was thinking 'Halides would be interested in this!' only to realize it was completely not germane to the discussion on the thread. I'm glad to see that, thanks to Komponisto, you'll be able to read it anyway, but in the meantime, here's another bit I wanted to quote - evidently the experts agree (without ever directly criticizing Stefanoni!) with the defence argument on 'suspect-centric' testing. This is about the interpretation of a 'true' allele versus a 'drop-in':

Statements about a profile obtained from a sample under examination, regarding the decision as to which is a true allele and which a 'drop-in', must necessarily be pronounced without knowledge of the suspect's profile; only in such a way, in fact, can a qualitatively unimpeachable and balanced approach to the interpretation of the profile emerging from the sample in question be guaranteed. An interpretation of the profile obtained from a sample, carried out with the suspect's reference profile available, indicates an imbalanced [approach], and is in total contrast with the absolutely objective nature of forensic science (p. 85).

You can tell when the experts are obliquely criticizing Stefanoni because they bold and italicize everything (all bolding/italics in the original).

 

[LondonJohn]

By the way, as I was reading the report I kept coming across bits I wanted to post as I was thinking 'Halides would be interested in this!' only to realize it was completely not germane to the discussion on the thread. I'm glad to see that, thanks to Komponisto, you'll be able to read it anyway, but in the meantime, here's another bit I wanted to quote - evidently the experts agree (without ever directly criticizing Stefanoni!) with the defence argument on 'suspect-centric' testing. This is about the interpretation of a 'true' allele versus a 'drop-in':



You can tell when the experts are obliquely criticizing Stefanoni because they bold and italicize everything (all bolding/italics in the original).

The part of the report you quoted regarding alleles/drop-ins is central to the issue of Stefanoni's professional competence and the impact of her affiliations with her police colleagues. As Conti/Vecchiotti point out here, it's a central tenet of DNA testing that one evaluates the data - separating alleles from drop-ins and other noise - prior to any potential matching against reference samples from potential suspects (or the victim, for that matter).

The reason that things should be done in this order is - I would hope - blindingly obvious to most logical thinkers. It eliminates the possibility of allowing reference alleles to influence the interpretation of the test data. And it also minimises the possibility of forensic scientists choosing (either consciously or subconsciously) to give the detectives the information that they (the forensic scientists) know the detectives want to see.

Again, I would suggest that Stefanoni either needs extensive retraining and re-evaluation (and probably needs to work under supervision for a year or two), or she needs to leave the front line of DNA testing.

 

[Kaosium]

It's my understanding that Telenorba has not said the Sollecito's leaked the film to them. It is Mignini and Maresca who have claimed this. The Sollecito's have said that they did not give the film to Telenorba.

Mignini said something like "how else did the station get the film?"

I don't know Mignini; how did Amanda's diary get in the hands of the press? How did so many crime scene photos get leaked? And CCTV video of what was not Amanda Knox arriving at the cottage?

I would be very leary of this case......

Wataminnit! Is Maresca involved in the prosecution of Raffaele's family as well?

 

[komponisto]

Again, I would suggest that Stefanoni either needs extensive retraining and re-evaluation (and probably needs to work under supervision for a year or two), or she needs to leave the front line of DNA testing.

I think Stefanoni knew what she was doing:

Dichiarava di essere a conoscenza del divieto del metodo sospetto-centrico per il quale non è corretto che si abbia davanti il profilo genetico di un soggetto nell'interpretazione dell'elettroferogramma. Dichiarava altresì di essersi attenuta a tale divieto e di aver analizzato le tracce in maniera assolutamente oggetiva.

[Stefanoni] stated that she was aware that the suspect-centered method is forbidden, so that it is not correct to have the genetic profile before one when interpreting the electorpherogram. She furthermore stated that she had adhered to this prohibition, and had analyzed the traces in an absolutely objective manner.

-- Massei-Cristiani, p.217

She lied on the stand either way: either she didn't understand the prohibition on suspect-centered analysis, or she did but didn't adhere to it.

 

[Draca]

Wataminnit! Is Maresca involved in the prosecution of Raffaele's family as well?

Well, yeah. He is the Kercher's lawyer afterall.

Here is a funny guilter blog about St. Francesco Maresca that highlights all the dedicated efforts he has made for the Kerchers.

http://willsavive.blogspot.com/2011/07/kercher-family-lawyer-francesco-maresca.html

 

[RoseMontague]

Wataminnit! Is Maresca involved in the prosecution of Raffaele's family as well?

My understanding is that there is a civil portion to the case that will run concurrently with the criminal one. There are still some arguments on this that have not been settled by the court from what I recall.

 

[RoseMontague]

Well, yeah. He is the Kercher's lawyer afterall.

Hear is a funny guilter blog about St. Francesco Maresca that highlights all the dedicated efforts he has made for the Kerchers.

http://willsavive.blogspot.com/2011/07/kercher-family-lawyer-francesco-maresca.html

I recall posting several comments on that blog and all of them were deleted.

 

[Kaosium]

Well, yeah. He is the Kercher's lawyer afterall.

Hear is a funny guilter blog about St. Francesco Maresca that highlights all the dedicated efforts he has made for the Kerchers.

http://willsavive.blogspot.com/2011/07/kercher-family-lawyer-francesco-maresca.html

That dude creeps me out. Both of them I mean.

My understanding is that there is a civil portion to the case that will run concurrently with the criminal one. There are still some arguments on this that have not been settled by the court from what I recall.

So....Maresca is the one who made the revelation of the crimes scene video showing the incompetent practices of the Polizia Scientifica about the second-or-so-long fuzzy frames of the victim instead?

 

[Kaosium]

I think Stefanoni knew what she was doing:

-- Massei-Cristiani, p.217

She lied on the stand either way: either she didn't understand the prohibition on suspect-centered analysis, or she did but didn't adhere to it.

I think you're definitely right, there was probably no other way to get a profile from that blade without painting-by-numbers....

 

[Onofarar]

Again, I would suggest that Stefanoni either needs extensive retraining and re-evaluation (and probably needs to work under supervision for a year or two), or she needs to leave the front line of DNA testing.

Gee, does Craigslist have Italian pages? Would metal poles suitable for installation in a bedroom or elsewhere in one's home be sold on there?

 

[Draca]

I think Stefanoni knew what she was doing:

-- Massei-Cristiani, p.217

She lied on the stand either way: either she didn't understand the prohibition on suspect-centered analysis, or she did but didn't adhere to it.

Frank Sfarzo has for a long time been saying that the scientist is not to blame. Basically saying it is not her fault she found DNA that was planted there by the cops. That she did her job correctly and the DNA was there, it is the HOW the DNA got there that is suspect. From his last blog :

perugiashock says:
June 29, 2011 at 8:00 am

I’m sorry Patrizia, I knew it would have been all your fault in the end…
‘They’ are like this, they ruin everyone… witnesses, suspects, victims, judges, scientists…


I never understood how he could look past her lying in court about the TMB test. He tried to explain it ..... The evidence collection has been a particularly troubling issue to me. She was the lead on the scene right? If Meredith Kercher's clothes, the bra clasp, purse were not collected doesn't the ultimate responsibility for that land on her as a higher authority from Rome?

I think Komponisto is correct and she knew what she was doing. Stefanoni was I think completely complicit in the railroad job and they would have had a hard time doing it without her. The knife and the bra clasp are the main convicting evidence and she is involved in both.

Komponisto and Katy_did,
I appreciate you pointing out these things from the report.

 

[platonov]

Originally Posted by LondonJohn

Again, I would suggest that Stefanoni either needs extensive retraining and re-evaluation (and probably needs to work under supervision for a year or two), or she needs to leave the front line of DNA testing.

I think Stefanoni knew what she was doing:

-- Massei-Cristiani, p.217

She lied on the stand either way: either she didn't understand the prohibition on suspect-centered analysis, or she did but didn't adhere to it.

So London John makes a claim that is shown to be nonsense (that's a surprise) and you try to defend it with an accusation.

As somebody here recently asked, channeling Popper no doubt, is that statement falsifiable ?
Or is it merely a wild unsubstantiated claim.

I think you're definitely right, there was probably no other way to get a profile from that blade without painting-by-numbers....

Really

Are you sure you didn't mean the bra clasp, that's what was under discussion ? AFAIK with the knife, the issue was the 'novel science' [and possible contamination] not the interpretation ?

In any case why not explain* (note explain, not list) to us laymen which particular loci Stefanoni fudged the analysis on - bearing in mind (on the clasp) it was a mixture of profiles.

It should keep us all busy till halides1 responds on the 'autosomic STRs vs Y Chromosome profiles' confusion I asked about here.


ETA This invitation* is extended to all 3 posters quoted here. Given you are so sure of Stefanoni's egregious errors it would be good to see your analysis - it would be a pity if the board was left with the impression that your arguments were mere ill informed bluster.

 

[Kaosium]

Frank Sfarzo has for a long time been saying that the scientist is not to blame. Basically saying it is not her fault she found DNA that was planted there by the cops. That she did her job correctly and the DNA was there, it is the HOW the DNA got there that is suspect. From his last blog :

perugiashock says:
June 29, 2011 at 8:00 am

I’m sorry Patrizia, I knew it would have been all your fault in the end…
‘They’ are like this, they ruin everyone… witnesses, suspects, victims, judges, scientists…


I never understood how he could look past her lying in court about the TMB test. He tried to explain it ..... The evidence collection has been a particularly troubling issue to me. She was the lead on the scene right? If Meredith Kercher's clothes, the bra clasp, purse were not collected doesn't the ultimate responsibility for that land on her as a higher authority from Rome?

I think Komponisto is correct and she knew what she was doing. Stefanoni was I think completely complicit in the railroad job and they would have had a hard time doing it without her. The knife and the bra clasp are the main convicting evidence and she is involved in both.

Komponisto and Katy_did,
I appreciate you pointing out these things from the report.

I think Frank's point was it might be just as hard to resist the coercive influence of corrupt police if you work with them and they 'expect' you to give them what they 'need,' as it is if you're in one of their little backrooms in the middle of the night. In other words if Stefanoni would have been working with someone else, she'd never have done something like this, and were another person in Stefanoni's shoes they'd have done the same thing.

I don't know if I necessarily agree with that part, but I think that's what he's getting at, and on one level I concur. The corrupt core in this case isn't her, but the ones who expected her to bail them out, and they were the ones who took Amanda and Raffaele into those little backrooms, made sure there would never be tapes, and then lied about everything that happened when it turned out they made an egregious error.

 

[Dan O.]

If you look back you find a small amount of material of poor quality coming out early on. Presumably via press conferences, or some similar prosecution/police channel. At that stage it's a few sentences here and there that appear to have been translated from English to Italian and back into English. Within a few weeks (three?) of the first mention of the diaries there is a newspaper story that says the family has released another extract of the diary. I put a bit of effort into this getting on for a year ago probably and from what I could see the family/defense was the source of almost all the diary releases.

Here is what I've collected on the diary so far. Please let me know if there is anything relevant that needs to be added.

Excerpts of Amanda's prison diary were leaked to the Italian press before the diary itself was confiscated by Italian authorities and added to the evidence file

There appear to be 2 diaries: The 7 loose pages titled "My Prison Diary" started after her arrest and a Spiderman notebook started Aug. 2007 and continued in prison.

==2007==

*2007-11-10 Repubblica [http://www.repubblica.it/2007/11/se...uccisa2/visita-genitori/visita-genitori.html] (it)
:In prison, Amanda is writing a diary of his last days before his arrest. "It seems that I need to pass on paper that has the heart," said the chaplain of the women's prison in Perugia, Don Saul Scarabattoli.
:Under review by the squad also the diary of Amanda, a camera and the laptop the girl.

*2007-11-11 Il Giornale [http://www.ilgiornale.it/interni/i_...11-2007/articolo-id=219715-page=0-comments=1] (it)
:"Do not call it just a diary, are sheets. Several sheets ...».
:"No, I made them read and I did not dare to ask him, things are intimate and personal. If you want it will spontaneously. "

*2007-11-11 MailOnline [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-492988/Knoxy-keeping-prison-diary.html]
:The Italian news agency Ansa quoted Saulo Scarabattoli, a prison chaplain, as saying he thought Knox was writing a diary in her cell.

*2007-11-12 ThisIsLondon [http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/...nife-because-he-pricked-her-while-cooking.do]
:A week ago it was revealed that Knox had said in her own prison diary that he had raped and murdered Meredith during the night, then returned to his flat where he must have placed the murder weapon in his sleeping girlfriend's hand to leave her fingerprints.
:She is reported to have written: "I think it is possible Raffaele went to Meredith's house, raped her, then killed her and then when he got home, while I was sleeping, he pressed my fingerprints on the knife."

*'''2007-11-29 Police confiscate Amanda's writings from her prison cell''' (Amanda's testimony)

*2007-11-30 Repubblica [http://www.repubblica.it/2007/11/se...ccisa5/appunti-amanda/appunti-amanda.html](it)
:There are fifty-striped sheets, written mostly in English with some concession to an Italian ungrammatical. Amanda Knox has entitled "My Prison".

*2007-12-01 Telegraph Malcolm Moore - Tape [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1571166/Tape-puts-Knox-at-Meredith-murder-scene.html]
:Knox has been writing lengthy notes while in prison, and one purported extract appeared in the Italian press today.
:In it, she wrote: “One thing that could have happened is that I smoked marijuana that night, and fell asleep at my boyfriend’s house. I do not remember anything, but maybe Raffaele went to Meredith’s house, raped and killed her, and then put my fingerprints on the knife back at his house while I was asleep. But I do not know why.”

*2007-12-01 Seattle Times - Parents visit Knox in jail [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004046683_webslainstudent01.html]
:Maresca confirmed that prosecutors had obtained a diary Knox had written while in custody. News reports today said that in the diary, Knox hypothesizes that Sollecito could have killed Kercher, slipping out of his apartment while she slept.

*2007-12-03 CBS News [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/03/world/main3565059.shtml]
:CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey, reporting the latest twists in the murder mystery in the university town of Perugia, Italy, says a diary seized from Knox's prison cell also, and for the first time, suggests that her Italian boyfriend may be guilty of the crime.
: Until now, reports Pizzey, Knox has maintained she and Raffaele Sollecito did not kill Kercher. But in the 125-page handwritten diary entitled "My Prison," Knox reportedly wrote, "This could have happened ... Raffaele went to Meredith's house, raped her and killed her, and then, having come back home, pressed my fingerprints ... I was asleep ... onto the knife."
:Knox adds that if it did happen that way, "I don't understand why Raffaele did it."
:In her diary, Knox reportedly makes no mention of Guede, or the other person connected with the case, Patrick Diya, a bar owner of Congolese nationality whom police have already released.
izzey says, whatever the case, Knox remains in a cell she complains is "cold", according to her diary. She says the only time she feels better is when she goes out for exercise, and can "sing and even shout."

*2007-12-16 Telegraph/Malcolm Moore/Kercher's clothes [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1572744/Suspects-DNA-on-Meredith-Kerchers-clothes.html]
:Meanwhile, Miss Knox released another chunk of her prison diaries through her lawyer, Luciano Ghirga. In the new writings, she continued to insist that she was innocent, and said she was unable to understand why her boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito, 23, continued to "tell lies" about her.

==2008==

*2008-01-17 NewsWeek/Barbie Nadeau/Prison Diaries [http://www.newsweek.com/id/94993]
*:their respective lawyers have now released the couple's own account of the events of the night of Nov. 1. These have come in the form of diaries compiled during their time in prison. Knox records her thoughts in English in a "Spider-Man 2" notebook titled in Italian "La Mia Prigione" (My Prison); Sollecito compiles his in a tightly written Italian text called "Notes on a Prison Journey."

*2008-02-27 SkyNews Nick Pisa - Accuses Lover In Jail Diary [http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Sky-News-Archive/Article/20080641295325]
*:Knox allegedly wrote her new story in a 50-page diary which she has kept since being jailed, along with Sollecito, on suspicion of murder and sexual violence.
*:The journal, which she called La Mia Prigione (my prison) was seized by police from her cell.

*2008-06-24 telegraph [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...185422/Amanda-Knoxs-prison-diary-leaked.html]
*:Amanda Knox, one of the suspects in the killing of Meredith Kercher, has submitted hundreds of pages of her prison diary to investigators to try to clear her name.
*:In her diary, obtained by the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Knox, who nicknamed herself Foxy Knoxy on her MySpace webpage, documented the seven men she has slept with.

*2008-17-14 NewsWeek/Barbie Nadeau/Many Faces of Amanda [http://www.newsweek.com/id/146214]
*:And by her own account in a prison diary leaked to the media, she details her sexual escapades with at least seven men she'd been with in her three months in Italy before her arrest. She even wrote that she might have HIV and then she uses a process of elimination to narrow down who might have given it to her. The diary is part of the collection of evidence and could be damaging to Knox in a court trial. Recently leaked segments of her continuing tome paint a disturbing picture of her state of mind. In one entry, she writes: "I think it's possible that Raffaelle went to Meredith's house, raped her, then killed her and then when he got home, while I was sleeping, he pressed my fingerprints n the knife."

*2008-11-29 KomoNews//Book on Knox published [http://www.komonews.com/news/35260544.html]
*:The book titled Amanda and the Others by Fiorenza Sarzanini includes pages from Knox's diary which have been seized by investigators, the paper said.

*2008-11-30 TimesOnline/John Follain/Diary reveals Foxy Knoxy’s sex secrets [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article5258040.ece]
*:A book published in Italy last week quotes leaked extracts from Knox’s diary
*:In another diary that Knox started in prison on November 8, 2007, shortly after her arrest, there is a rare passage about Kercher in which she imagines her raped and killed.
*::She wrote: “I can only imagine what she felt in those moments frightened, injured, raped. But I imagine more what she went through when the blood went out of her. What did she feel? And the mother? Desperation? Did she have the time to find peace or in the end did she have only terror?”

*2008-11-30 DailyMail [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/wor...t-diary-reveals-Foxy-Knoxy-thinking-sex.html]
*:In her book published last week, Ms Sarzanini refers to previously unpublished extracts from Knox's diary, that she kept from August 2007 until a few weeks after the murder.
*::The book features a list from Knox's diary which names four men in Seattle and New York, and three in Florence and Perugia, all of whom she has had sex with.

==2009==

*2009-01-14 DailyMail [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/wor...al-thrown-court-damaging-book-published.html]
*:The book Amanda and the Others was written by leading crime journalist Fiorenza Sarzanini and serialised in Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera last month. It is a bestseller in Italy and was a popular Christmas gift.
*: The author relied on extracts of Knox's diary, seized by police following her arrest in November 2007.
*::'In my book I used the diary written by Amanda Knox herself and which is now part of the evidence in the trial against her,' he said.

*2009-11-30 AssociatedContent [http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2353638/amanda_knoxs_prison_diary_what_did.html?cat=41]


==2010==

*2010-03-21 KomoNews [http://www.komonews.com/news/88766167.html]
*:The Italian court system has handed a small victory to Seattle college student Amanda Knox, awarding her $55,000 in damages in an invasion-of-privacy lawsuit, according to media reports.
*:The judge ordered that the damages be paid jointly by author Fiorenza Sarzanini and RCS Group, the publishers of newspaper Corriere Della Sera, which serialized the best-selling book "Amanda and the Others."


==Summaries==

*http://blog.seattlepi.com/dempsey/archives/142848.asp
*http://www.mahalo.com/amanda-knox-prison-diary
​

 

[Kaosium]

Really

Are you sure you didn't mean the bra clasp, that's what was under discussion ? AFAIK with the knife, the issue was the 'novel science' [and possible contamination] not the interpretation ?

I'm waiting for that section to be finished translating but my guess is that in this regard her malfeasance was just as pronounced--if not more so. Follow the links on this post and see what she was working against in attempting to produce a profile from a 10 (or less!) pg sample with a 28 cycle Identifiler kit, as it says in the Massei Report. Those 'peaks' centered around 40 RFUs, she might well have just been dealing with stochachic effects. Oftentimes a harddeck threshold of 100 RFUs will be set to avoid such possibilities...

In any case why not explain (note explain, not list) to us laymen which particular loci Stefanoni fudged the analysis on - bearing in mind (on the clasp) it was a mixture of profiles.

It should keep us all busy till halides1 responds on the 'autosomic STRs vs Y Chromosome profiles' confusion I asked about here.

You'll have to wait until it is finished translating like the rest of us!

In the meantime, why don't you peruse that link I gave you and spend some time here studying up?

 

[platonov]

I'm waiting for that section to be finished translating but my guess is that in this regard her malfeasance was just as pronounced--if not more so. Follow the links on this post and see what she was working against in attempting to produce a profile from a 10 (or less!) pg sample with a 28 cycle Identifiler kit, as it says in the Massei Report. Those 'peaks' centered around 40 RFUs, she might well have just been dealing with stochachic effects. Oftentimes a harddeck threshold of 100 RFUs will be set to avoid such possibilities...



You'll have to wait until it is finished translating like the rest of us!

In the meantime, why don't you peruse that link I gave you and spend some time here studying up?

That's very good - or would be if one couldn't read english

So was it the bra clasp or the Knife you were talking about ????

 

[Kaosium]

That's very good - or would be if one couldn't read english

So was it the bra clasp or the Knife you were talking about ????

I think it was both, she needed to 'build' a profile and she did it. Kinda like having the box in front of you with the picture on it when you put together a puzzle. 'Suspect-centered analysis.'

 

[Draca]

I think Frank's point was it might be just as hard to resist the coercive influence of corrupt police if you work with them and they 'expect' you to give them what they 'need,' as it is if you're in one of their little backrooms in the middle of the night. In other words if Stefanoni would have been working with someone else, she'd never have done something like this, and were another person in Stefanoni's shoes they'd have done the same thing.

I don't know if I necessarily agree with that part, but I think that's what he's getting at, and on one level I concur. The corrupt core in this case isn't her, but the ones who expected her to bail them out, and they were the ones who took Amanda and Raffaele into those little backrooms, made sure there would never be tapes, and then lied about everything that happened when it turned out they made an egregious error.

Kaosium,

You explain yourself so much clearer than the cryptic Frank Sfarzo! I understand now finally what he meant. I can certainly believe she was under pressure from the police to provide them with the evidence that they needed. Not being in the same position I suppose I can't understand how strong that pressure is. There is her job at stake, finances, etc. Does her falling to police pressure excuse her, no. It does raise the possibility this could be understandable human failure vs. corruption. She has always appeared cozy with the prosecution though, whispering to them in court. If she is not the corrupt core as you said, I think she is complicit with them. We also don't know if it was police pressure or voluntary help because she also thought they were guilty.